If We Never Get Out Of Here
by suitcaseofmemories
Summary: After Ron left, Hermione was devastated. And it was all Harry's fault. So now he has to fix her. Ficlet. Very AU.


**Author's Notes:** Ficlet. AU. Character's aren't mine. Prompt: Harry/Hermione, _one day we will be a legend. _

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Another night, another day goes by with Ron gone off. Another night in which Harry heard her, crying almost silently. He always takes the night shift, because she needs all the rest she can get. He is used to this; he's used to getting little sleep, used to functioning automatically. His body was conditioned for this. It was as though Dumbledore had known that he needed to be moulded into a person who could withstand hunger and cold, a person who could deal with an uncomfortable life. Maybe his life at the Dursleys hadn't been all bad. Maybe it had prepared him for this adventure. Him. It was always him.

He was angry at Ron. Angry that he had left him like that. Angry that poor Ronniekins couldn't deal with not having three warm meals a day. Angry that Ron was right; he didn't know how it felt, he didn't have a family. Angry that Ron and Hermione were all he had, even if the Weasley matriarch had all but adopted him into their family. Angry that Ron had hurt his Hermione.

Mostly he was angry at himself. Angry that he had let the unspoken arguments fester like they had. He was angry that he had put Ron through all this mess, because Ron was right. He didn't know where to go, what to do, what Dumbledore wanted him to do. So angry and alone and lost and insecure, because if it hadn't been for him, Hermione wouldn't be like this.

It was his fault that Hermione was so devastated. And he had to fix it. He had to.

Idly he turned his wand in his fingers. He wanted to go to Godric's Hollow but he didn't think Hermione would want that. Not now. Maybe later. In a few days. But now, now he had to cheer her up, had to make her forget about Ron. If he could make her forget for just an hour.

It was almost morning when he had formulated a plan. It wasn't brilliant by any means, but it would do.

Wand in hand he slipped through the tent opening and moved towards the girl that was brave enough to leave her parents behind to help him. Unease gnawed at him; she had been sleeping restlessly during the past nights and now he was about to wake her up in the middle of the night. His fingers, cold from the biting winter air outside despite the warming charms he had cast, touched her shoulder and, as gently as he could, he woke her up.

Hermione opened her eyes with effort and took in the strange look on Harry's face. "Harry? What's going on?" She took a look around, expecting something to have happened, half-expecting to see that Ron had come back.

"Nothing, Hermione. Get dressed, there's something we have to do. Hurry," he said, not even bothering to explain. He wanted to fix what he had broken.

He turned away to give her some privacy but Hermione wouldn't let him off the hook like that. "Harry, what happened?"

He shook his head, "Nothing, I told you. Please, Hermione." His voice almost cracked. He didn't want to tell her what he had planned, didn't want her to spout logical arguments against this latest stunt of his.

"But –" Hermione started to say, when Harry cut her off.

"Hermione, do you trust me?" He asked her and he looked into her eyes, as though they might provide answers to all his unasked question.

"Harry, you know that I –"

"Hermione," he repeated, "do you trust me?" The forlorn look in his eyes startled her, caused her breath to hitch for just a moment.

The look in her eyes softened. "Always," she breathed. "I trust you. Always."

He didn't say anything after that, left the tent so she could dress for the cold outside.

When Hermione came out of the tent minutes later, covered in the warmest clothes she had, beaded bag in hand, he whispered the spells needed to undo and shrink the tent and the wards, leaving only one of them.

"Harry, what –" She was at a loss for words. It was very early and still dark outside and she couldn't see why Harry wanted to leave. The wards hadn't gone off, they were safe.

"You said you trust me. Put the tent away, quickly," he ordered. For once she did not protest and when she looked back into his face, he could see that she was trying hard to keep her curiosity and fear in check.

"Take my hand." He held out his hand to her and the moment she had laid hers into his palm he gripped it tight, whispering another spell to undo the last of the wards and with a crack they were gone.

They reappeared in a small street halfway across the country.

"Where are we, Harry?"

He hesitated, didn't want to egg her on. "I'm not quite sure, actually. I was here as a child, once. One of the few trips that I was allowed to go on. It must've been in primary school. Come on, there's something I want to show you."

Hermione nodded, not letting go of the warm hand that was still gripping her own hand.

Silently they marched through the seemingly empty small town they were in. They walked the snow-covered streets carefully, trying not to slip on the icy cobblestones. In some houses the lights were already on, people were getting ready to go to work and school. A child stood in one of the windows, peering out to see the snow falling and a pair of strangers walking past the trees of the park.

Harry led the way, steering them towards the town centre until he stopped in front of the town's church.

"Harry? What are we doing here?" She asked, trying not to let the questions she really wanted to ask spill over. _Why have you brought me here? What if Ron will never come back? What if we get caught? What if I don't want to let go of this, of this adventure, of having only each other?_

"I wasn't sure if you were religious but I thought it would be nice. The church is really nice inside. When I was here, it was deep winter and I saw the sunset through the windows," he explained without really explaining anything at all.

For a moment he simply looked at her, giving her hand a squeeze, and then he whispered "Alohomora" to open the doors of the church.

"Hermione, I can't give you a peaceful sunset. I can't give you Ron. I can't even give you the promise that you will make it out of here. I'm not sure we will. But I can give you faith. Have faith that we can make it through this. Have faith that one day this will all be over and you will be back with your parents." The words stumbled out of his mouth and he had difficulty to form them into proper sentences. There was so much he wanted to tell Hermione. _Have faith that I will always try to do the right thing by you. Have faith that one day we will be a legend, having defeated the darkest wizard of our time. Have faith that, whatever happens, I will try to make up for the unhappy weeks I forced upon you._

Hermione looked into his eyes for a long time, her eyes glittered with unshed tears, almost as though she was trying to show him the things she couldn't say. "You don't have to promise me anything, Harry. I don't – we don't need a sunset when we can have a sunrise. We don't need Ron." She wasn't sure if this was true but she needed to say this nonetheless. She had to say this or she would never stop being angry and mad at him. "If we never get out of here, if we never make it out of this town – being here with you, it will be enough."


End file.
